Event Description

The Building America Program is hosting a no-cost, webinar-based training on Multifamily Ventilation Strategies and Compartmentalization Requirements. The webinar will focus on key challenges in multifamily ventilation and strategies to address these challenges. Presenters and specific topics for this webinar will be:

Sean Maxwell, CARB, presenting Make-Up Air Strategies in New Construction Multifamily Buildings. In new construction multifamily buildings, exhaust only ventilation strategies are still common, particularly in the Northeast, as a means of meeting both local exhaust and whole-unit ventilation rates required by ASHRAE 62.2-2010. Although the exhaust flows can be easily measured to show compliance, the source and adequacy of the make-up air is unknown. In attached multifamily housing, with focus on air-sealing the exterior walls to reduce infiltration, “make-up” air could be from adjacent apartments rather than the outdoors. Some building designers and high-performance building program administrators are therefore moving toward strategies that intentionally provide outdoor air. In exhaust only strategies, passive vents are a make-up air strategy with lower operating costs and lower first costs than mechanical supply ventilation systems. The presentation will discuss the evaluation of the performance of this strategy in 3 buildings and based on those results, has developed design guidance to improve the performance of this strategy.

Joe Lstiburek, BSC, presenting Multifamily Ventilation strategies. Joe will discuss the impossibility of meeting ASHRAE Standard 62.2-2013 ventilation requirements in multifamily buildings that are also constructed to LEED compartmentalization requirements or the currently proposed ASHRAE Standard 62.2-2014 (out for public review) compartmentalization requirements unless balanced ventilation approaches are used. Various balanced ventilation options will be presented that meet the ventilation requirements and various air sealing compartmentalization options will be presented that meet the current and proposed compartmentalization requirements.

The presentations will be followed by an interactive Q&A session where participants will have a chance to submit questions via the webinar.

If you have any questions, please contact: Heather Stafford (heather@confluencec.com).